Paramount is really ramping up the marketing campaign for Transformers: Dark of the Moon. An explosive trailer really established that this third Transformers film could be the action movie event of the summer, and some early reviews have certainly echoed that sentiment.

However, action was never this series’ weak point so much as cheesy humor and lackluster human “drama” – both of which were still on display in a recently-released Transformers 3 clip.

Today we have a new clip from Transformers 3to share. It doesn’t show any of the Autobot vs. Decepticon action you might be hoping for, and is yet again an exclusively “human” scene – but, it’s not all bad. While people often break down Michael Bay’s Transformers movies into two core elements – stupid human stuff, cool robot action – that is actually a misleading reduction. There are, in fact, three core elements of a Michael Bay Transformers movie: stupid human stuff, cool robot action AND patriotic military odes. It’s this third element that is put on display in today’s Dark of the Moon clip.

Actors Tyrese Gibson and Josh Duhamel provided some of the better human moments of the original Transformers, playing Sgt. Robert Epps and Lt. Colonel William Lennox, respectively. The two characters were part of a military squad that first encountered the Transformers, and many fans were peeved when their role in the sequel, Revenge of the Fallen, was grossly marginalized to the point that Gibson barely uttered three lines of dialogue in the whole film. Considering that Epps and Lennox were put in charge of a combined military/Autobot strike force called NEST, fans expected the characters to play more of an active and badass role in the sequel. No such luck.

As you can see from the scene below, Michael Bay has heard fan outcry about how Lennox and Epps were treated in Transformers 2 and aims to correct that misstep in Transformers 3:

In her report on the recent Transformers 3 preview event, our own Roth Cornet reported that the scene previewed in this clip is actually quite badass – especially when viewed in 3D. Bay’s films (in general) have always been (in part) glorified recruitment films for the U.S. Military, and from the tone of the scene above it looks like he will once again pay homage to the bravery and courage of service men and women everywhere…as they battle giant robots.

Personally, I would’ve been much happier if these movies had always focused on Epps and Lennox as the human connection, rather than Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) constantly alternating between screaming “Optimuuuuuusssss!” and “Bumblebeeeeeeee!” – but that’s just me. As it stands, I’m glad to see that at least Lennox is getting some time to shine – hopefully this scene isn’t the only time he does so in the movie.